He quickly extended a membership offer to Branth, who instantly accepted. With that, an organization that would hopefully span all of the Hells was born, born out of Jonathan’s boundless potential and will. As the name change circulated through all of the faction members, he could see faces perk up and resolves sharpen. All in all, the name was a far better one than what it had been before.

The first thing on his agenda was claiming a headquarters. They would need a place to gather forces and train within in peace. The best place for that would be near the Rim, as in the Ash Heaps, but none of their levels were high enough to risk that. For now, this abandoned city would have to do.

Now that Jonathan’s token had changed to reflect the third realm of Tartarus, he could bring others with him now, perhaps even more than one considering how low he was within Tier 3. As the Uthraki got to work conjuring houses and walls out of rock, he pulled out the token and approached Edgar.

“I believe it is time to explore the volcanic wastes of Tartarus. The monsters in this realm are far deadlier than the ones from the first layer of Tartarus, but they will also provide more essence.”

“That sounds like a great proposition. In gaining more power than I had ever thought possible, I find myself yearning for ever more. Let’s go.”

Jonathan held out the token and Edgar grabbed on. With a whoosh, they were whisked away through the veils of reality and into the sub realm of Tartarus. The vast expanse of lava and rock that made up the second layer of Tartarus was very different to the somewhat enclosed space that was the first realm. They emerged near the slot canyons where Jonathan had fought his first monster of the new realm. It was as good a place as any to start farming levels.

Jonathan drew out a small group of monsters with a bolt of purple light, and they came scurrying out of the canyons. There were a few different types of Wyrmkin, ranging from the Wyrmkin Brutes that he had fought before, to Wyrmkin Ravagers, Scouts and Invokers.The Ravagers seemed to be some sort of berserker, while the Scouts and Invokers were less physically power, instead focusing on speed with the Scouts, and elementalism with the Invokers.

Jonathan drew upon Ephemeral Trifecta, and coated his arms in a layer of the Void. He blitzed forwards, and slammed his fist into two of the monsters. Projections of purple light tore through their abdomens as Void Piercer triggered. It was a skill that he rarely paid attention to, as it seemed to work on its own accord. However, it was certainly powerful.

He tossed the Scout and Brute off his arms, sending them to the ground for Edgar to fight. Meanwhile, Edgar was skirting the other two, combating the Invoker’s bolts of red hot fire with blasts of concentrated wind.

The Brute struggled to force its way through what looked like a localized hurricane, but was failing before Edgar’s aeolic might. The man reached the two struggling monsters and slammed spikes of elemental power into their brains. They struggled to get through their tough skin, and he changed focus to their eyes. With wet squelches, both monsters died, and essence was shared between Jonathan and Edgar. It was a bit under a level for Jonathan, but Edgar gained multiple.

As the other two monsters charged, Edgar and Jonathan met them, Jonathan going into melee range, and Edgar playing the role of ranged support. Jonathan’s fists flew like machine gun bullets into the monsters, limned in purple light. Edgar’s attacks came in fast, seeming to possess far more weight than they had before. He had gained the ability to manipulate weight in the opposite direction, as part of an upgrade to his conceptual elemental skill. Now the blasts of air struck like rods of metal, while still traveling at the speeds of something with nearly no mass. As a result, each of them did devastating damage, at least to the Invoker. The Brute was a bit tougher, and was able to shrug off some of the energy.

Jonathan focused on keeping the monsters tied down while Edgar went to town on them, wanting to ensure that the man gained the lion’s share of the essence. He also wanted to keep his own level low, at least for a bit, so that he could bring the others into Tartarus with him. It was an invaluable source of powerleveling, and he would be a fool not to use it.

The monsters died shortly after, and their corpses were left strewn across the dark rock. Essence poured into Edgar, and trickled into Jonathan. Still, it was enough for another level. He opened his stat sheet a moment later, and surveyed it.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Jonathan Harlowe

Tier 3

Void Human(Exalted)

Divinity Aspect: Void Hegemon

Elemental Mastery: 12%

Elemental Juggernaut: Tier 3 Legendary

Level 218

(194 free points)

Strength

1717

Dexterity

1620

Constitution

1397

Resilience

1378

Intelligence

1409

Wisdom

1250

Divinity

20

Health: 31433/31433

Stamina: 38633/38633

Mana: 31703/31703

* Titles

True Unbound Spirit: Unique

First Circle Breaker: Unique

Nascent God: Transcendent

Supreme Initiate: Ancient

Lesser Xenocide: Legendary

Greater Giantslayer: Legendary

Iron Will: Epic

Leader of Men: Epic

Refined Form: Epic

Avenger: Epic

Lineage Hunter: Rare

Righteous Killer: Rare

* Skills

Maw of the Void: Ancient

Ephemeral Trifecta: Mythical

Greater Smite: Mythical

Void’s Grasp: Mythical

Void Piercer: Mythical

Mantle of the Void: Legendary

Rune Savant: Legendary

Void Drill: Legendary

Channeled Basic Truesight: Legendary

Sense the Weave: Legendary

Void Slipstream: Epic

Warrior’s Trance: Epic

Fists of the Hurricane: Epic

Battle Focus: Rare

Impact: Rare

Focused Scry: Rare

Runes of Power: Rare

Redirect: Uncommon

* Pathway Skills

Energy Manipulation(Advanced): Journeyman 5

Martial Arts: Journeyman 5

Runecrafting: Journeyman 4

Truesight: Journeyman 3

* Martial Path

Flowing Hurricane: Journeyman 4

* Quests

The Strongest: ???

Hellbreaker: Impossible

Pathway of the Titans: Heroic

His stats were fine for now, but he was a bit concerned about his dearth of pathway skills. If he was to complete his new quest, he would need more. He could already sense the strands of logic and fate tying together his Runecrafting and Truesight skills, but he needed one more related skill to make it all work. It was high time that he got to training his skills in earnest.